Ray Rice: "My Actions That Night Were Inexcusable"

Ray Rice apologized for the domestic violence incident for which he’s been suspended for two games. The press conference was broadcasted on ESPN. “My actions that night were totally inexcusable,” said the Ravens running back. “That’s not me. That’s something I have to live with the rest of my life. The pain that I’m talking about living with is waking up every day, and my daughter’s two years old now — she’s very smart, very intelligent — and one day she’s going to know the power of Google, and I I’m going to have to explain to her what happened to that night. I know that’s not who I am as a man. That’s not who my mom raised me to be.”

“I let her down,” Rice continued. “I let my wife down. I let my daughter down. I let my wife’s parents down. I let the whole Baltimore community down. I’ve got my teammates here supporting me — and I let them down. I’ve let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can’t take back.”

The press conference did appear to be scripted, but Rice also came off as very honest and sincere. It’s dicey to get into the nuances of weighting how conciliatory somebody was in an apology, but this comes across far better to an audience that was horrified of his team’s tactless PR dump before Memorial Day weekend, and every soundbite that has come out of the organization and the NFL ever since.

Rice also addressed the two-game suspension, which was nearly universally perceived to be too light:

“I don’t have any control over what the punishment was,” Rice said. “I’m being punished on a day-to-day basis. No football games and no money is going to determine what I have to live with the rest of my life. That punishment from the NFL — it hurts because I can’t go out and play football — but it hurts more that I’ve got to be a father and explain what happened to my daughter. … I never planned on appealing any kind of punishment. Whether it was 2-8 games, I was going to own my actions and be a man about it and take whatever was given to me.”